1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to weather seals for external doorways, and more particularly, to an astragal for sealing between a set of double doors.
2. Prior Art
In order to seal the space between abutting vertical edge portions of double doors where one of the doors is normally inactive, it is common to use a T-shaped astragal mounted to the vertical edge portion of the inactive door with one side of the head of the T extending onto the outside front surface of the inactive door and the other side of the head portion of the T extending into the swinging path of the active door so as to act as a seal and stop when the active door is closed. It is also conventional to provide some flexible sealing elements on the side of the head of the T-shaped astragal which contacts the front surface of the active door, in order to provide a seal between the astragal and the active door.
Unfortunately, since double doors are seldom perfectly hung so that the doors are exactly aligned in a vertical plane or with the top and bottom edges in the same planes, the conventional type of T-shaped astragal does not always provide the seal against weather that it is intended to provide. For example, if the active and inactive doors are not in the same generally vertical plane, the conventional T-shaped astragal mounted to the inactive door will not contact the active door along its entire height as it is theoretically intended to do. Also, it is possible that the doors will be so far out of alignment that even the flexible sealing member will not contact the active door, thus defeating entirely the intended purpose of the astragal for sealing against weather conditions.
Double door installations are normally sealed along the hinge portion of the door and the upper edge adjacent the head jam, by a flexible sealing member which contacts the outer front surface of the doors when they are closed. Since the stop member attached to the head jam extends down over the upper surface of the door in order to hold the sealing strip in position, it is necessary to notch the astragal so that it does not interfere with the closing of the door by contacting the stop members. This generally produces an air gap between the astragal, the doors and the head stop in conventional installations.
In order to seal between the bottom edges of the doors and the sill, flexible sealing members are generally secured to the door or the sill so as to contact the bottom edge surface of the door if they are secured to the sill or to contact the top of the sill if they are secured to the door. Thus, unlike the other three sealing edges of the door the bottom edge seals in shear rather than in compression of the flexible sealing members.
In the case where the bottom sealing member is secured to the door, there will of necessity be a gap between the doors and the sill at the abutting vertical edge portions of the door, since the doors cannot in fact contact one another when closed. This, therefore, produces an air gap at the juncture of the doors and the sill.
Further, double door assemblies are generally provided with vertically extending lock pins which extend into the head jam and the sill adjacent the astragal on the inactive door in order to maintain the inactive door rigidly in the closed position. Since conventional lock pins are usually cylindrical and extend from the central portion of the door adjacent the astragal and do not contact any other surfaces than the corresponding holes in the head jam and sill they do nothing to help seal off the openings which exist due to interruption of the flexible sealing means as described above.